Month: November 2014

Fallen leaves, fallen leaves, fallen leaves on the ground… Every single year when the leaves fall down from the trees I can’t get the “Fallen leaves” song by Billy Talent out of my head. Well this was few days ago, when the weather was still quite nice here in Slovenia and most of the trees still had the leaves on. It was really nice and warm autumn day, so we decided to have a little hike.
We went on top of the Rašica, hill a bit north from Ljubljana. There is a tall iron tower on top, so I went up and took some photos from up there. Sadly it was quite foggy below, so the view wasn’t as nice as it could be. I guess I’ll have to return to the Rašica tower some other day when the visibility will be better.

Last day of our sailing trip. Great day, but sad at the same time, because we knew all that crazy world was waiting for us out there and this relaxed life on sailboat will go away… So we had to make this day count. We started it with a hike up the hill at Levrnaka. Our plan was to watch the sunrise from the top, but sadly there were clouds on the east side. But hey, it was still nice and the views were amazing.
There is a cross on top of the hill, but it seems you can find a cross on more or less every hill. But I am not sure if the same goes for stacking stones. On top of the hill there is a lot of stacked stones, some already look like a large pile, some are just few stones on top of another. Supposedly these bring luck. You grab a stone, you make a wish and you put it on one of the piles. I was joking what happens if you take few stones away from the pile, does that mean some people will not have their wish granted? I wasn’t so evil, so I didn’t do that… =D
When we climbed down we had some fun at the beach. We were like little kids, throwing stones in the water… But it was time for departure so we put our sails up and went into direction of Dugi Otok. We passed Sestrice, an island with amazing lighthouse, and if you ask me, that is the best thing at Kornati. Ok, yes, cliffs are amazing too, but this one is so iconic. At the narrow crossing between Kornati and Dugi Otok we passed ruins of Roman villa. When I see stuff like that my imagination starts working and I immediately though about the life 2000 years back. Sometimes I really wish I could live in that era.
Our next stop was small town Sali, that is actually the largest town at Dugi Otok. Guys cooked the fish they caught, so they had them for breakfast. I imagine it must have felt really cool to eat that well earned food, but I skipped that. I had enough vegan food with me. =)
On our way to Sali we passed a regatta and it seemed winds were great. And they sure were. On our way to marina in Biograd we were so lucky. The wind was just perfect and we were leaned to one side so we were able to touch the water with our feet! Really cool, but not so much for me – I was cooking inside! Well that was fun! And on top of all, our charter boat decided to clog the kitchen sink so it was full of water and it almost spilled. Luckily we were able to “take” some water out right on time.
Anyway, that was more or less the end of our trip. I needed it, I wanted it, I got it! I just hope we will be able to repeat it next year! =D

Blog post about our Day 1.
Blog post about our Day 2.
Blog post about our Day 3.

Another early morning and start of our day at sunrise. It is funny how nobody feels like sleeping late while on a sailboat. Your body just wants you to get up early and you don’t mind. It feels like if you don’t get up early you will miss something important (like sunrise for example). Right before we lifted our anchor guys decided they want to try to catch a fish or two, and who would guess, they actually did! So it was another great start of the day (at least for us, not for the fish). =)
This day was all about Kornati, the famous Croatian islands… to be honest, they are not so amazing. I mean, they are quite special and interesting, but I’ve sailed between these islands a few times before and you get a bit tired of them. They all look almost the same, with almost no trees, just rocks, grass and bushes. The only really amazing thing about them are the cliffs – these really are a true art of nature. Kornati probably look better from the sky, so perhaps I should take a trip with a plane someday.
We all really wanted to see the dolphins and this was obviously our lucky day, though we did see only one dolphin and even this one was quite far from our boat. But hey, we did see it, so it counts!
It is also quite special experience to have a lunch while passing the beautiful cliffs of Kornati islands. Ah, Croatia does have some unique charms. Well the fun part of the day was “rope dragging”. We threw a rope in the water and boys held on to it. At first they just had a little bit fun, but when we accelerated and our sailboat gained some speed they were all laughing so hard and yelling they can’t hold on any more and how they were about to lose their swim shorts… That is when the fun part really started. =D
We finished our amazing day at Levrnaka. We tied our rope to the pier of the tavern (that is also named Levrnaka). Before we finished our day we all went to the bay on the other side of the hill, that is supposed to be one of the most beautiful bays in Croatia (or maybe Adriatic Sea). And it truly is beautiful (photos of it in Day 4). So we went for a swim, had fun with sand in the water and enjoyed the rest of the day. One of the best days, really… =D

Blog post about our Day 1.
Blog post about our Day 2.
Blog post about our Day 4.

Our second day of sailing started at Drvenik. We woke up in time of sunrise. We were still a bit sleepy, but the whole energy of nature and sailing woke us up very fast. Sun rays were peeking from behind the clouds and the whole scene looked even more magical. We agreed that the day started amazing.
While we were sailing we saw some tuna fish jumping out of the water again, but this time they were a bit further away. We passed some cute lighthouses, small church in the middle of nowhere and remains of ex Yugoslavian army bunkers. On these islands there is always so much to see. This day was warm an sunny, even though it was already October. Weather was like in the start or in the end of summer and we were all so happy to be able to enjoy the sailing only in our swimsuits. Winds were not so kind with us, but we did manage to sail a little bit. And of course most of the guys on a boat wanted to experience how it is when you are on top of the mast, they just had to try it. So this day we pulled two of them up and they took some photos and made some videos with GoPro camera (I still didn’t manage to go through those photos and maybe edit a video).
We stopped in a town named Žirje (that is as usually on an island with the same name), because we needed few things from the shop – and the shop there is in a place that is probably an ex garage. From there we sailed to a bay around the corner and we anchored there. Some guys went to the shore and to a local tavern, some of us stayed on board and did some chores, cooked dinner and so on. It was a little bit drunk night for some of the guys, but I think that will be the night most of them will remember as the funniest… =)

Blog post about our Day 1.
Blog post about our Day 3.
Blog post about our Day 4.

About a month ago I went sailing in Croatia with some friends for four days. We were lucky to catch very warm sunny days at start of the autumn. Actually we had better weather than it was in the middle of summer and the water was still so warm we were able to swim. It was really great time off.
I’ll divide these posts on days again, so here is our first day. We started in marina Trogir, but our first day was a little bit cloudy. Just when we got around the corner (by corner I mean behind the cape) we noticed something jumping out of the water. At first we thought about dolphins, but no, there was a group of tuna fish chasing a group of smaller fish. They were jumping out and they really made a show for us. We’ve all been to the seaside before, most of us have been on a boat before, but none of us have ever seen these fish jumping out like this. It was amazing, even more because we just started our short vacation.
We sailed to some bay, where we stopped for a swim, then we continued our trip to the island Veli Drvenik. Me and my brother call this town a “Fail village”, because there is so much weird stuff. They have a lot of old cars, most of them broken and abandoned, but they don’t remove them, they just push them to some field or in some corner and that’s it. It’s also funny how they “fix” cars and other stuff with things you would never think of. Also some roads that lead to the houses are very narrow and you wouldn’t think any car goes there, but obviously it does and some people even think they have to mark their property with a “Private parking” sign… I have no idea who would park a car there anyway… So yeah, it really is a little bit like a “Fail village”. It makes you laugh on every corner. =)
Anyway, that was our first day and here are the photos.

Blog post about our Day 2.
Blog post about our Day 3.
Blog post about our Day 4.